Websites are the virtual storefronts of market research agencies. It’s where you often get your first impression of a potential research supplier. You peek in the window and see if the goods are narrow or diverse, dated or current. You get an impression about personality and culture. You may even get a sense of trustworthiness.

But if you have ever looked at more than 2 or 3 agency web sites, you will see that the quality and content vary dramatically. Almost dismayingly so.

So how to compare them? How to decide if an agency is worth further consideration?

I recommend using the following 4 criteria to assess market research agency websites:

Educational content. Number of white papers, videos, blogs and other content that educates client-side visitors. An agency that invests in client education is an agency that values its client relationships

Standards and ethics. Visible statements about market research ethics, and adherence to standards promoted by the industry’s professional associations such as CASRO, the MRA and ESOMAR. Choose agencies that have solid credentials; alas, there are many that do not.

Friendliness. Based on a site’s overall readability and ease of navigation. Why hire an agency that can’t communicate about research in an accessible way?

Innovative thinking. Has staff-authored books or papers on innovative topics, promotes new methods on website or blog. Perhaps even shares agency-funded “research on research.” An agency that spends some time and money investing in research methods will be able to best advise you on what methods will best meet your needs; you don’t want to go to a doctor that hasn’t been trained in 20 years, do you?

Obviously, a market research agency’s website is only one way to become exposed to its capabilities. Still, it is an important one. To find links to market research agencies and their websites, try the AMA’s Green Book, Quirk’s directory, the MRB Directory, or for a more global listing, ESOMAR’s online directory.

[This is part 1 of a 3-part blog series on market research agency web-sites: the next post will cover some of my favorite agency websites which meet the criteria above. Be sure to get the RSS feed so you don't miss parts 2 and 3: subscribe.]

Websites are the virtual storefronts of market research agencies. It’s where you often get your first impression of a potential research supplier. You peek in the window and see if the goods are narrow or diverse, dated or current. You get an impression about personality and culture. You may even get a sense of trustworthiness.

But if you have ever looked at more than 2 or 3 agency web sites, you will see that the quality and content vary dramatically. Almost dismayingly so.

So how to compare them? How to decide if an agency is worth further consideration?

The difference between good market research and great market research can be significant.

But sometimes the incremental time, cost and sweat of that extra effort simply doesn’t make sense. Sometimes, “good” is just perfect.

I was reminded of this last week at the Launch Camp conference in Cambridge. The event, for entrepreneurs seeking social media wisdom, had some interesting speakers, though the one from whom I learned the most was Dharmesh Shah, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of HubSpot (on Twitter as @Darmesh).

These days, there are innovators out there. Agencies using cooler tools, applying newer sample quality processes, and even offering new deliverables. Their methods may push you out of your comfort zone. Their proposals may be harder to read because they won’t be full of the same boilerplate you’ve been seeing for years.

The original article recommends NPS (Net Promoter Score) as the optimal standard for customer satisfaction with telecommunications providers. Ummm, no. So since I didn’t get to share on the TMCnet site, let me share some information here for those of you interested in measuring customer satisfaction in the telecommunications space.

If you need to set expectations with colleagues about the quantitative market research process, here you go (see bottom of post): the key steps layed out in a simple flowchart.

I have used this diagram to walk market research newbies through the process many times, and it always gets rave reviews. While the chart is pretty self-explanatory, a few items are worth pointing out…